C21 Life Hacks - advice

Homeowner Safety: Vacation Season

Taking precautions to ensure your home is safe while you're away is important - be it for a week or for a few months. Many of the following tips are simple tasks that you can do to prevent break-ins and minimize damage:

• For long vacations, unplug all electronics and shut off the main water valve. This will significantly reduce your utility bills while you're away.
• Test your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors before leaving. Replace batteries if necessary. 
• Make sure all of your windows and doors are properly closed and locked. This includes basement windows, garage doors, and shed doors. 
• Avoid leaving any valuables out, where one could see them by peering in the window. Closed curtains and blinds are an obvious…

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Dealing With Multiple Offers - For Buyers and Sellers

Deciding which offer to take when presented with multiple offers takes more than just picking the highest bidder. Every seller has to consider a number of factors about the potential homeowners they're dealing with, such as their financing and offer commitment. On the opposite side of the transaction, buyers need to weigh things like conditions in fine print - even blind bidding. So, how do you begin to even deal with a multiple offer scenario? This week, we look at five considerations for both buyers and sellers:

1) Priorities

First and foremost, discuss priorities with your Realtor. While you might have to compromise on some things, your Realtor will do what it takes to check off as many of your goals/priorities as possible. 

…

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Re-Think Your Lawn!

Who has time to continuously care for that carpet-like, green grass almost everyone longs for? Cultivating a lush, green lawn takes time, can be expensive, and is a mainstay on weekend to-do lists - Spring through Fall. Now that’s a serious commitment! 

Traditional turf lawns require a lot of maintenance. You must mow and remove weeds often, plus the amount of water usage can be staggering. The average Saskatchewan household uses 353 litres of water per day, with about 35% -40% of that total devoted to outdoor uses, according to the Government of Saskatchewan's most recent water metrics (2018). With an increasing population, as well as more rural to urban movement, water conservation is becoming increasingly important.

It’s about time…

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Spruce Up Your Deck!

Here in the Prairies, we know summer is fleeting. With less than six months of warm weather, we take full advantage of the heat! So, it's no surprise that we want our living space to extend outdoors during this time. A few modifications to your backyard deck will improve its aesthetic and functionality, as well as increasing your comfort.

1) Install a Pergola

A Pergola turns an exposed deck into an inviting room, providing partial shade and comforting structure. The angled slats shade most of the area during peak sunshine hours, all while still remaining open.

2) Re-stain

A gorgeous outdoor space starts with great wood. Sand and power wash the surface, then stain or paint with the colour of your choice. Not only will it…

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New Homeowners: "I Just Moved In. What Do I Do Now?"

You've just bought a home, and you're getting ready to move. Before possession day, your daydreams consist of floor plans, furniture arrangements and interior design. Are we right?

It's absolutely normal to focus on the fun things right now, even though you know moving day will be hectic. In fact, we encourage ALL the daydreams and small celebrations right now. What we also encourage is taking the time to set up safety measures, take care of small maintenance tasks and check up on your new home's systems. This will solve the question of, "what now?" that new homeowners often have after moving in. Let's go over these tasks, and when the best time to complete them is:

Before Closing

Included in your Agreement of Purchase and Sale…

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Tips For Single Home Buyers

Purchasing a home is an exciting milestone in life. At the same time, it's stressful and seems like such a daunting process. For single individuals, this stress is amplified. This week, we're giving out our top tips to make any bachelor or bachelorette a savvy home buyer:

Be Aware of Your Finances

It's hard enough to qualify for a mortgage as a couple! Qualifying for a mortgage while solo carries more stress, amplified further by the fact that interest rates are on the rise right now. It's essential for the singles out there to know where their credit stands, since the higher your credit score is, the more favourable your interest rate will be. If your score is lower than you'd like it to be, check out our surefire ways to improve…

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Our Top 5 Distractions (And How To Deal With Them!)

This week, we want to take you in a different direction than our norm. This week, we're going to confess what distracts us the most. Hopefully, by showing you some of our vulnerabilities, you can identify with one or a few of them - and work on dealing with it, as we deal with ours. Without further delay, let's countdown these distractions!

5) Media Playing In The Background

Working in silence seems too eerie, doesn't it? That's why we usually have music playing in the background at work, or have the TV on in the background if we've got a couple of things to do at home. It could be a show, music channel, sports station, or Youtube video....but it's gotta be on! Well, now this habit has turned against us - sometimes we just stop what…

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Things To Know Before Buying An Historic Home

What says home sweet home better than a house with history? Historic homes appeal to so many people - from preserving architectural designs to showing off unique character touches. Yorkton's South Central, Central and Northern neighbourhoods feature some excellent historic homes. This includes wealthy professionals' homes from the late 1800's and houses built by the Doukhobor settlers! These homes still stand today, reminding us of the people who came before us, who started their new families in a new territory, and who built their families with the future in mind. With all of these things in mind, it's not hard to see why you might find yourself hunting for one of these homes! As with all things in this life, buying a home comes with drawbacks - a…

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Top Ten Reasons Why A House Won't Sell

Heard about how homes are selling like hotcakes right now? Did you list your home in this market, only to realize that it's been sitting on the market for a few months now? Wondering if your Realtor spun you a great marketing yarn? Don't fret if your home seems to be the only one not selling, because there's multiple reasons that a home just won't sell. Sometimes, it's out of your control. Most of the time, however, there are changes you can make which will change your standing among the home buying crowd. Today, we're going to go over the top ten most common reasons that a home just won't sell, and what you can do to improve your chances of selling:

10) Timing

For the last year, we've seen a healthy market for sellers. Inventory has…

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5 Ways To Whirl Through This Winter

Is it blasphemous for us to talk about winter while it's still autumn? Well, while we don't want to think about the cold right now, maybe it's a good idea for you to think a season ahead. With some restrictions back in place, it may be a good idea to assess your living situation and how it works in our current world situation. Here are 5 ways you can make user friendly adjustments in your home before winter, without completing expensive renovations or moving:

1) Create Multi Purpose Rooms

The demand for multipurpose rooms and furniture has increased sizably since the start of the pandemic. Obviously the most notable space people are opting for is an office. As more people work remotely, homes are adapting to accommodate the…

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